Good onya Podiers! That was a fantastic finish after a superbly contested race with 20 boats home in the first half-hour. No quarter given and 100% effort all the way - just as Aaron would have wanted it. This has been an excellent start to what is going to be a truly memorable series of races, each of which, thanks to their designer, Tyger, will stand happily on their own two feet to make individual races for the future.

RACE INFO:

It's time to start our circumnavigation of Australia in memory of and tribute to SOLer AGage.

AGage gave us his race, Agage's Tour Downunder. Our gift to his memory is the 9-leg A3 - Agage's Around Australia Series. This race is Leg 1 of the series and is a 468nm race across the south east corner of mainland Australia. This area is the confluence of three weather patterns: an icy cold blast from the south west off Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, south east from the Tasman Sea and north west off the hot deserts of central Australia. Weather systems move west to east and Melbourne usually gets Adelaide's weather 2 days later. Be prepared to experience all weather systems during the race.

Starting offshore AGage's club in suburban Adelaide and finishing in Melbourne's Port Phillip just off Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, this race is designed to highlight the fact that AGage sailed an Aust Lightweight Sharpie, an evolution of the 12 sq mtr Sharpie last seen in the Olympic Games in 1956 in Melbourne, while SOL's finish is at RMYS - the yachting HQ for the 1956 games.